China-Pakistan

 

 

At the invitation of Premier Li Qiang of the State Council, Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan will pay an official visit to China from next Tuesday to June 8, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning announced on Friday.

This visit is the first time Shahbaz has visited China since the establishment of the new government in Pakistan this year, Mao said. 

During his visit, President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang, and Zhao Leji, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee will meet and hold talks with Sharif. The leaders of the two countries will exchange in-depth views on bilateral relations and issues of common concern, and jointly plan a blueprint for the future development of China-Pakistan relations, Mao said. 

In addition to Beijing, Sharif will also visit South China's Guangdong Province and Northwest China's Shaanxi Province. 

China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners and ironclad friends. The friendship between China and Pakistan has withstood the test of time and remains as solid as a rock and as stable as Mount Tai, Mao told the Friday's press briefing. 

Under the guidance of the leaders of both countries, high-level exchanges between China and Pakistan have been close in recent years, bilateral practical cooperation has steadily advanced, and the high-quality construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has achieved fruitful results. Both sides maintain good communication and coordination in both international and regional affairs, Mao noted. 

Mao also said that China looks forward to using this visit as an opportunity to jointly promote greater development in China-Pakistan all-weather strategic cooperative partnership and to take new steps toward building a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era.

Sharif's visit came weeks after Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar wrapped up his visit to China  in mid-May. 

"In a volatile and changing world, a sound, stable and robust China-Pakistan relationship is of great significance to regional peace and prosperity," Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs, told Dar on May 15 after the fifth round of the China-Pakistan Foreign Ministers' Strategic Dialogue in Beijing.

During the Dialogue, the two sides exchanged views on the entire range of bilateral relations and cooperation, including in strategic, economic, political, defense and security, trade, investment and commerce, and cultural and people-to-people domains.

Global Times